power button?

[jdm93dsm]

i was wondering what the purpose of the power button is on the center piece located near the shifter.... mine has never been hooked up since i bought my car, anyone know the purpose of it, i havent read a post yet about it... is it worth hooking back up?

 

[Defiant]

It raises the shift points of the automatic transmission.

 

[jdm93dsm]

ok, but mine is a 5 spd, do u think the person b4 me converted it to manual or something?

 

[LASERBRAIN]

Someone must have swapped out your center conse from an A/T or converted your tranny over to a manual. that button is for A/T's only. what it does for an automatic, well, when on the highway going over 55-60 put it from power mode to economy mode. this makes the engine not downshift to go faster when you are on long trips.. lowers the revs to save gas. if you do have an auto and run around town in economy mode, you can kiss your tranny goodbye in a few months. (especially if you are running an f4a22/km175) this button is evil and should be respected for those of us Auto-tranny people. i just keep mine in POWER mode all the time to be safe. I learned the hard way. the 1400 dollar hard way.
Jon

Usually it's just a blank in manual tranny cars where that switch is. that or a little useless change holder thingy. the switch is very easy to take out.
jon

 

[Defiant]

In a manual-transmission car, it's only a smart switch.

However, it's a better location for the foglights than behind the steering wheel, or it can be used for something like a fuel-pump or starter circuit cutout. It'd never be found out in plain sight like that.

 

[disturbed]

Is it honestly bad to have overdrive on for daily driving? it sures save's me gas money campared to with it off... any one?

 

[Defiant]

Okay, stop the bus.

The Power/Economy (1G) switch is not the same as the Overdrive switch.

The P/E switch changes how high the engine revs before the gearbox shifts.

The Overdrive switch will keep the box from shifting into 4th gear.

The Owner's Manuals don't make any warnings about using them, they only describe what (in very general terms) they do.

 

[disturbed]

So im ok to leave it on?

 

[Megags]

In theory, the economy mode makes a nice smooth shift, and the power mode shifts very quickly. The slower the shift, the more your clutches are getting worn. The quicker the shift, the less time the clutches spend sliding against each other; they shift into gear much quicker.

Think of it as riding the clutch in a manual transmission; It may be a smoother ride to use the clutch a lot, but eventually you will wear the clutch out prematurely.

 

[LASERBRAIN]

The transmission shop told me to keep it in POWER mode unless i was on the Highway and going pretty fast. He told me that it is intended for highway use and what it is supposed to do is make it so that your transmision doesn't kickdown a gear everytime you hit the gas when you are on a long trip. thus making your engine rev less quickly and equally providing better fuel economy. It makes it to where when you press the gas down and you are in overdrive and moving along, you won't get awesome excelleration, just a smooth steady increase in speed. it works for that and i have tested this before on a 100 mile trip, and i actually got way better mileage with the economy mode and cruise control rather than the power mode and cruise. The dealer worked on my car before and they told me to just leave it in power mode all the time and that the economy mode would wind up doing damage to the tranny. This is all i know.
JON

 

[disturbed]

but i have a 2g? i mean i was told overdrive will save me gas money that is it nothing about being bad for your tranny please help i dunno wether to leave it on or off

 

[Defiant]

Originally posted by LASERBRAIN
The transmission shop told me to keep it in POWER mode unless i was on the Highway and going pretty fast. He told me that it is intended for highway use and what it is supposed to do is make it so that your transmision doesn't kickdown a gear everytime you hit the gas when you are on a long trip. thus making your engine rev less quickly and equally providing better fuel economy.

That sounds like the _OVERDRIVE_ switch on the side of the lever, not the POWER/ECONOMY switch on the console. There may have been some confusion in that conversation.